Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 101 Shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING)

Fifth Third Bancorp decreased its stake in shares of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) by 10.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 897 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 101 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Wingstop were worth $255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of Wingstop during the third quarter worth $36,000. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its stake in Wingstop by 53.8% in the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its position in Wingstop by 60.6% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 106 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Wingstop by 384.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 126 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Wingstop by 942.3% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 271 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Raj Kapoor sold 266 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.38, for a total transaction of $86,285.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,285.08. This trade represents a 50.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WING shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Wingstop from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $385.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price on shares of Wingstop in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Wingstop from $450.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Benchmark upgraded Wingstop from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Wingstop from $470.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wingstop has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.32.

Wingstop Stock Performance

Shares of Wingstop stock opened at $297.90 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $299.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $348.38. Wingstop Inc. has a 52 week low of $266.45 and a 52 week high of $433.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.70 billion, a PE ratio of 86.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.81.

Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.09). Wingstop had a negative return on equity of 22.69% and a net margin of 17.05%. The company had revenue of $162.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Wingstop Inc. will post 3.66 EPS for the current year.

Wingstop declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wingstop Profile

Wingstop Inc, together with its subsidiaries, franchises and operates restaurants under the Wingstop brand. Its restaurants offer classic wings, boneless wings, tenders, and hand-sauced-and-tossed in various flavors, as well as chicken sandwiches with fries and hand-cut carrots and celery that are cooked-to-order.